Improved ship of war



UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE9 JOHN WHEATLEY, OF THE ROYAL NAVY, ENGLAND.

EMPROVED SHIP OF WAR.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 39,601, dated August 18, 1863.

To @ZZ whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN WI-IEATLEY, captain in the Royal Navy, otNo. 9 Gniicks strasse, Munich, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, have invented or discovered new and useful Improvements in the Construction of Ships ot' War; and l, the said JOHN WHEATLEY, do hereby declare the nature of ihe said invention and in what manner the saine is to be performed to be particularlydescribed and as certained in and by the following sta-tement thereof-that is to say:

This invention has for its objects improvements in the construction ot' ships of war. For these purposes in constructing a ship of war according to my invention. Iform the bow A with a sharp projecting grub or crab bow at an angle of about twenty-live degrees with the keel, and propel the vessel by paddle- Y and over the whole fore part of the vessel and exten ding to the front of the paddleboxes.

Figure 1 is a plan, Fig. 2, a side view, partly in section; and Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken at the line l 1, Fi g. 1, of the fore part of a war-vessel constructed according to my invention and adapted to be propelled by paddle-wheels acting either in conjunction with a screw or screws or otherwise.

1t will be seen that the guns D` are placed a little forward of the center of the vessel, where a plated battery is formed, rendered shot-prooi' by armor-plates, such as shown at E, Fig. et, or of other kinds. The guns D are mounted on slides b, so as to re through narrow ports a. Th ey are placed parallel the one to the other, and have no power of training, the guns being laid onto the mark by the Steerage of the ship. The form given to the fore part of the ship will cause it on running into another vessel to rise on striking the blow, and then the weight of the ship tends to force under the adverse vessel and will do so if the blow be struck with sufficient power. The armor-plated glacis C will deliect ott' any shots which may strike it, and will in most cases throw them up clear of the battery, as before mentioned. l employ two screw-chocks, one on each side of the rudder. These, being screwed, will nip or hold the rudder in a central position, or will support it in any desired position under rapid sternway, the chocks being more or less screwed up, as may be required.

What I claim in the construction of ships of war is- The arrangement of the sharp bow and glacis forward of' the center of the ship, so as to admit of the placing and laying ot' the guns by the steerage of the ship, as set forth and shown.

JOHN VHEATLEY.

Vitnesses:

KENRIGK BACON,

Rockampton, Surry. EDWARD WILBERFORGE, Now residing n Munich. 

